An interesting poll in the Times. The majority of people don't want another referendum but, if a three-way one were to be held (hard Brexit, Chequers, or staying in) the first choices of those who say they would vote were:

Stay in EU 50%; Chequers 17%; hard Brexit 33%

Deleting Chequers and redistributing those votes using second preferences:

Stay in EU 55%; hard Brexit 45%.

However, given the opposition of both major parties to holding another referendum, it is very hard to see a solution which will do anything but leave the majority of Brits dissatisfied with the outcome.

Still, if (when?) the EU gives a firm "non" to some important provisions within Chequers, all bets are off. Then it's a matter of laying in lots of food and booze, battening down the hatches, and waiting it out...

Robert Peston reports that May "says 70 "technical notices" for businesses and households will be published in Aug and Sept setting out how we can all prepare for a no-deal Brexit (should that be what happens). Yikes."

The hard Brexiters approve of anything that might make a negotiated settlement less likely. They simply don't care about the consequences, this is theological rather than logical. I recall BoJo being quoted as saying "let's just get out - we can sort out all of the other issues afterwards". Frightening.

On the one hand they want a clean break - no deal, but on the other they push the scenario (that is false anyway) that as the EU export more to the UK than the UK does to them - 'they need us more than we need them' - surely to emphasise the fact that 'it's going to be OK - they will be amenable to a settlement or deal' - which we don't want.

.@MattHancock : "The department is working up options with industry for stockpiling medicines, medical devices and substances of human origin in the case of a no-deal Brexit. Obviously there will be a cost for this."

I expect those who voted Leave took this possibility into consideration.

.@MattHancock : "The department is working up options with industry for stockpiling medicines, medical devices and substances of human origin in the case of a no-deal Brexit. Obviously there will be a cost for this."

I expect those who voted Leave took this possibility into consideration.

Public opinion seems to be all over the place. Poll results in the last Sunday Times show a marked shift to the right, with strong support for a right-wing party to implement Brexit, and for BoJo the Clown to replace May (seriously!). But a question as to how they would vote in a second referendum resulted in 54% for remain, 46% for leave.

I suspect that what people want most is for this "death of a thousand cuts" to end. Somehow! Anyhow!!

No-deal is probably the most demented policy put forward by mainstream British politicians in the modern era. To see how it would work in practice, this piece looks at what would happen on day one. Doing this for the whole economy would take countless pages of Stephen-King-style horror, so it's stripped down to one topic: food. This is the story of how our system for importing and exporting food implodes almost instantly.

It is, of course, good to plan for all eventualities. But that’s precisely what the Brexiters haven’t done. They didn’t think through what Brexit meant during the referendum. They didn’t think through how they would handle things when they pushed the prime minister to trigger Article 50 without a plan. And as they ramp up calls for us to crash out with no deal, they still haven’t got a plan – except, it seems, to try to hide the facts from the public until it is too late.